On Wednesday, July 21, 2017, Members of Congress introduced legislation to get there.

“Even Smart People Are Still Arguing About Fossil-Free Electricity”

Triple Pundit gave that headline to the OpEd I wrote with Rosana Francescato about the growing controversy and debate about “how fast and fully we can leave oil, coal, and gas behind.” (That’s punchy but we still like ours too: “Imagine a better–not just a less bad–future climate.”)

Here are some excerpts; read, follow the links, and comment on the whole article at Triple Pundit.

Roadmaps created by Stanford engineer/atmospheric scientist Mark Z. Jacobson and the Solutions Project he co-founded helped make “100% renewables by 2050” a meme. But some have privately questioned the goal’s assumptions, research, and feasibility. Now 21 prominent climate scientists have issued a comprehensive public critique in the same Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences where Jacobson published in 2015. Jacobson’s team gave broad and line-by-line responses, to which the critics responded.

Who’s right? As scientists and economists hash it out, former Department of Energy official, physicist, and climate blogger Joe Romm cautions, “the reality of climate change and rapidly improving technology makes it both essential and indeed inevitable that the electric grid will be essentially carbon free by 2055. That’s the forest we mustn’t miss for the trees.”

The how-much-renewable debate doesn’t yet reflect promising emerging pathways….Putting a price on carbon would significantly improve the business model for 100% renewables….At some point, having built awareness and support, the U.S. will decide to go all-in. Until then, though we don’t yet know our exact route, can we agree on our destination?